Chapter 40: The Secret of the Family’s Extermination

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: The Secret of the Family’s Extermination

Jeremy carefully tightened the gauze knot on his arm, his movements decisive and neat.

He took out the grayish beast bone key that he had picked up in the cave on the deserted island from his storage ring. His narrow phoenix eyes swept over the magic array patterns on it, and he spoke in a flat tone:

"You once said this thing is the tool to open the barrier leading into your family’s forbidden area. If I hold it and grope my way into their territory, are you sure I won’t be hunted down by the entire group of elders? For example, being labeled as the descendant of the enemy who murdered you, perhaps."

"...Rest assured, there will be no hunting down." The emotion of the phantom Yusha suddenly sank, a rare streak of silence replacing its usual noisiness: "Since hundreds of years ago, I was already the last survivor. Currently, the Prometheus family can also be considered completely erased from the continent’s map. You don’t need to worry about that trivial matter."

Jeremy’s action of putting away the key halted in mid-air. A flash of shock darted through the depths of his eyes.

A Divine Shaman family that was once a mysterious existence holding power that could overturn the empire in the eyes of the world, yet they were completely wiped out?

A family possessing such terrifying power, what faction in the end had enough capability and methods to destroy them by the roots? That heinous event even occurred hundreds of years ago without anyone knowing...

If this sentence from Yusha leaked out, it would undoubtedly detonate a blood storm across the entire continent.

Even Jeremy himself - someone who always kept a cool head - also felt this matter was too absurd. He narrowed his eyes, coldly probing: "Is it convenient to tell me the reason why they were wiped out?"

"It’s not really inconvenient." A long hundred years had passed, Yusha hovered in mid-air, no longer considering this some taboo secret that could not be mentioned: "It was simply because of ’heavenly punishment’. As for the core reason why they angered the world’s order to the point of bearing heavenly punishment, I was too young at that time, and fundamentally unqualified to know clearly."

It hesitated for a beat, then continued: "The family’s entire territory has long become a pile of desolate ruins. After experiencing the wind and rain of centuries, currently, probably only the forbidden area still maintains its barrier intact. When the time comes, if you want to infiltrate inside, just follow the guidance of this bone key."

Heavenly punishment...

Jeremy lightly stroked his chin. He was quite unfamiliar with this absolute concept.

Based on the volume of ancient text knowledge he had pondered over in the library, "heavenly punishment" was likely a destructive form of punishment from the world’s laws, descending upon those who dared to bend or break the order of life and death. Its level of cruelty even far exceeded divine punishment.

In the end, what kind of forbidden arts or choices did the Prometheus family dabble in to invite such a violent extermination disaster? Even the last direct heir did not grasp the specific reason; it truly was a deep pit filled with eeriness...

Jeremy was indeed a bit curious, but his logical brain immediately extinguished it. Digging deep into the secret of a family that had turned to dust brought absolutely no pragmatic benefit to his current path of survival.

Suppressing his curiosity, he casually made a promise: "Wait until after the team tournament ends, I will request permission to leave the academy, take your ashes and scatter them into the deep sea of the Empire, returning your freedom to you as agreed."

Every time one left St. Aetherwing Academy, they had to pass through a teleportation array managed by Griffin, with absolutely no opportunity to access other peripheral areas, which was why this transaction had been delayed until now.

A quite long period of time had passed now, and he should soon find an opportunity to definitively settle the previous agreement. More importantly, the adventurous blood in his body also began to stir. A land of opportunity considered an absolute forbidden area by the Divine Shaman family, what earth-shattering treasure or secret was it hiding in the end...

"You just handle it as you see fit." After escaping imprisonment on that troublesome deserted island, Yusha was no longer urging: "Seeing this academy is also quite interesting, I’m not in a hurry."

"Alright." Jeremy blandly responded, then decisively disconnected his communication with the phantom. Having finished dealing with his bleeding wounds, he relaxed his muscles, lying flat on his back on the sparkling silver sand.

The surrounding space fell into absolute silence. So silent that the aching pain from the exhausted muscle bundles accumulating over the past few days began to scream continuously, surging up to his cerebrum.

It was truly exhausting to the point of wanting to break every segment of his intestines.

The destiny of Heavenly Slaughter and Seven Slaughters... spoken bluntly and unpleasantly, it was exactly the setup of a cannon fodder born abandoned by the world’s laws. Destined with a path of extreme bad luck, always having to trample through the mud, struggling to find a crevice of survival amidst endless slaughter and danger.

If there were a shortcut to take, if one could just open their mouth waiting for figs to drop and still attain enlightenment, who would want to always brace themselves to live such a tiring and ruthless life.

Jeremy stared intently up at the shimmering galaxy-like sky dome of Moonlit Island. He was just about to lift his aching arm to cover that not-so-blinding light when, before he could act, the friction sounds of footsteps stepping on dry leaves transmitted over.

Jeremy’s muscles instinctively tensed, but when his sharp eye corner swept toward the treeline, he immediately brushed off his vigilance.

Evelyn, who had just silently left a moment ago, was taking long strides emerging from the darkness of the forest.

"Where did you go?" Jeremy still maintained his sprawled posture, asking in a low, hoarse voice.

"Went to hunt for some food." Evelyn approached his spot. Her face was still as flat as stagnant water; she swung her hand, taking out a few sparkling pale yellow Illusionary Moon Fruits from her spatial ring, holding them straight out toward his chest: "Want to eat?"

"Of course, my stomach is screaming in protest right now." Jeremy decisively sat right up, reaching out both hands to accept them without any polite reservation: "Thank you."

"...You’re welcome. No need to thank me." Evelyn paused slightly. Normally witnessing the way her captain flatly rejected everything from Lucius, she was certain she would also receive a shake of the head in refusal. This incredibly natural and pragmatic acceptance caused Evelyn’s emerald eyes to flash with a wavering... that was somewhat subtle.

The two backed away, leaning their backs against the giant Moon Shadow tree trunk, silently consuming the fruits.

A long while later, Evelyn finally spoke up, breaking the silence: "Tonight, let’s just set up camp and get a good sleep first, tomorrow we can continue our sweeping action."

Jeremy’s physical stamina had indeed hit rock bottom right now, so he completely had no intention of stubbornly refusing: "Alright."

The dark night on Moonlit Island passed in an unusual silence. It wasn’t until dawn tore through the fog that they had never encountered any ambushes from magic beasts. Very rarely did Jeremy and Evelyn have the opportunity to close their eyes and properly rest their minds for a sleep.

On the third day since setting foot on the island, both immediately overclocked their speed, running hurriedly deep into the moonlit forest.

The dense forest, just like the seabed, had danger lurking in all four directions. Considering that separating actions would scatter their firepower and increase the risk of being broken individually, they decided to maintain a close-knit formation to support each other.

It wasn’t until dusk on the sixth day that both successfully swept and collected the entire harsh quantity of materials before the countdown deadline ended.

After dragging their bodies to the Anima faculty’s commission department to submit the mission, fully exchanging their accumulated points, and returning to the floor lobby, Jeremy and Evelyn coincidentally bumped into the trio of Leon, Lucius, and Phoenix right under the dormitory lobby area.

Jeremy’s sharp gaze swept over, assessing the condition of his three teammates.

Needless to ask, their sweeping trip on Wraith Island was absolutely a journey past the gates of hell, not smooth at all. The dark circles under the eye sockets of all three were pitch black, exactly like those who had stayed up all night slaughtering for several days and nights, almost indistinguishable from panda eyes.

Their combat uniforms were torn to shreds, their bodies wrapped tightly in bandages stained with dark red blood, radiating an incredibly terrifying murderous intent and foul smell.

Jeremy spoke in a flat voice, breaking the gloomy atmosphere: "Did you collect enough materials on that jellyfish head’s list?"

"Mhm." Leon leaned his hand against the wall, coldly snorting a response. The other two remained sullenly silent, not bothering to open their mouths.

Completing the quota was enough. Jeremy maintained a captain’s attitude, dropping a formalized word of encouragement: "The day after tomorrow is the official opening of the combat tournament between faculties. Use tomorrow to properly heal your injuries."

After speaking, he himself felt that his dry, emotionless intonation couldn’t contain even half a fraction of care, but sounded exactly like the exploitative command of a cold-blooded capitalist.

Jeremy fell into silence for two seconds, decisively abandoning any correction.

Never mind, he was inherently born without the cells to comfort or warm others’ souls.

Jeremy dropped a brief goodbye and decisively turned around, taking long strides toward the elevator lobby. Having only taken a few steps, as if suddenly remembering something that directly affected his sleep quality, he stopped his heels, slightly turning his head to look at the silver-haired young man: "Lucius. Remember to apply your healing medicine on time." He truly wasn’t free to grit his teeth bearing the backlash pain transmitting through the empathy contract throughout an entire long night.

Hearing his name called, Lucius - who from earlier until now had been leaning silently against the wall like a dead statue - lightly lifted his long eyelashes. He relaxed his shoulders, taking slow, long strides to approach.

Deep inside those incredibly beautiful emerald green phoenix eyes was condensing a bewitching smile that made it hard for one to distinguish truth from falsehood. His deep, warm voice, carrying a hoarse roughness due to exhaustion, rang out, yet carried a deadly teasing tone: "Captain... would you personally help me apply the medicine?"

Jeremy stood motionless, his gaze as sharp as a razor blade locking tightly onto the other’s face for a full two seconds.

Lucius curled the corner of his lips, silently waiting for a familiar, brutal refusal to be thrown straight at his face. However, the red-haired youth in front of him suddenly burst into laughter. A pragmatic, sharp smile intertwined with masculine provocation.

"Alright then." Jeremy casually tucked one hand into his suit trouser pocket, his other hand pointing loosely toward the other party, his deep voice carrying oppression: "Where do you want me to help apply the medicine? Hands? Shoulders? Or..."

Jeremy’s gaze carried blatant evaluation, slowly sliding down from Lucius’s Adam’s apple to his abdomen and lower body.

"..."

The three people standing with their arms crossed acting as spectators watching the fun show behind also instinctively shifted their gazes in unison, glancing down following Jeremy’s line of sight.

The fake smile on Lucius’s lips instantly froze, and then died out. The corner of his eyes twitched slightly: "...I was just joking. This trivial, minor matter is still better left not bothering the Captain’s precious golden time."

Having spoken, he whipped around, hastily brushing past Jeremy’s shoulder, burying his head and taking long strides straight toward the magic elevator cabin, his back looking a bit flustered.

Watching the other’s appearance of fleeing for his life, Jeremy gave a soft snort, a bland smile lingering at the corner of his lips.

Clearly, by nature, he was a germaphobe who detested having his body touched by others, yet he always liked to act like a rogue, dropping teasing words and clinging to others.

Completely an impulsive demon who was only good at barking...

Jeremy silently cursed the other’s troublemaking nature while leisurely turning around, both hands tucked into his trouser pockets, taking long strides following the direction of the elevator at the other end of the corridor.